The only Star Trek episode that has ever been remotely scary to me was TNG's The Most Toys. My dad was channel flipping, and I was around nine at the time. All I saw was a flashing image of the chair to be Data's display. That was enough.
It wasn't a nightmare, exactly, more a very unsettling dream. I was afraid it was messed with, rigged to explode. I didn't even know who did it, or who it was for. I didn't start watching any Star Trek until late 2016 or early 2017. I later watched the episode "again", and I was like, wait a second, I remember this...
I guess you could say I was destined to latch onto Data, to make sure we both made it through, to learn and grow as much as possible. To survive, as ourselves.
Data, S4E3 Brothers
Katherine Pulaski, S2E1 The Child
Admiral Haftel, S3E16 The Offspring
Phillipa Louvois, S2E9 The Measure of a Man
Bruce Maddox, S2E9 The Measure of a Man
Christopher Hobson, S5E1 Redemption Part 2
Lore, S4E3 Brothers
Gosheven, S3E2 The Ensigns of Command
Kivas Fajo, S3E22 The Most Toys
Data:
S4E3 Brothers
S7E17 Masks
S6E26 Descent Part 1
S6E8 A Fistful of Datas
S5E26 Time's Arrow Part 1
S3E13 Deja Q
The Enterprise exploding: S5E18 Cause and Effect
hi, first of all i wanted to say that i usually prefer one-shots to series, but mechanical rose is amazing and has me absolutely hooked.
id also like to ask if it will touch on the topic of the most toys, as with the reader constantly reminding data of his humanity, it would probably be interesting.
thanks for your answer and providing us with this gem of literature!
Hey there! So glad you've been enjoying Mechanical Rose :)
I've wanted to write about The Most Toys since I first saw that episode. In my opinion, it's the darkest and most traumatic Data episode (closely seconded by Descent), and it obviously deeply affected him. I have bits written of a one-shot called "Not a Malfunction" that I hope to finish and post someday that explores Data processing what happened to him and coming to terms with the fact that he fired at Fajo.
I hadn't thought of connecting his experiences in that episode with my Mechanical Rose series, but it does make sense that those traumatic memories might bubble up in the context of his relationship with Y/N. I'll have to give it some thought and see what sparks my imagination. Thanks for the idea!
Bro, I actually got nervous for Data. Like yeah, I know he doesn't die or anything, but I wasn't sure if this would end with him getting forcibly turned off or something else horrible. Also, I did NOT expect to see Saul Rubinek!! Rubinek did a really good job at playing the villain in this episode, though I was thrown off at how young he looked. (He's always been Artie from Warehouse 13 to me, lol)
I did like that they didn't do the typical "3 Laws of Robotics" for Data to have as a programming ruleset. It makes sense, since he is literally sentient, meaning his programming wouldn't restrict him like that. I also found it interesting that Fajo was relying so hard on Data's statement "I have been designed with a fundamental respect for life in all its forms and a strong inhibition against causing harm to living beings." Like, Data didn't say he was prevented from causing harm to living beings, he said he had a strong inhibition against causing harm. If Data was unable to kill when necessary I doubt he would be allowed to serve in Starfleet. I also found Data doing the calculation in his head and coming to the conclusion that killing Fajo would prevent harm to other living beings to be interesting. I understood his logic, even if wasn't said. Also, characters keep saying "Data can't feel, he's just an android". But like...he clearly can bro, lol.
Star Trek actor Brent Spiner (Data, way too many relations/incarnations of Data) with Saul Rubinek (Fajo) on Warehouse 13
Season 4 episode 1 A New Hope
On the TNG the Most Toys, Fajo (Saul Rubinek) steals Data (Brent Spiner) because he is a rare artefact. In Warehouse 13, Artie (Saul Rubinek) steals a valuable artefact from Brother Adrian (Brent Spiner), who chases after him to get it back.
just saw a usamerican woman on twitter complaining that a group of spanish people "only" tipped her 70 dollars on their 600 dollar meal (and she was expecting another 50 bucks i guess?). Bestie if you wanna make rent you gotta unionize, you can't expect random tourists to adhere to your social conventions, specially when usamericans refuse to follow anyone else's regardless of the situation
"Why are some of your cubs in Savanaclaw just walking around butt naked."
As he came down from the Magift field, he quirked a brow when he noticed a certain herbivore hanging around outside. “Oi,” he called towards the boy, quirking a brow at him that very much said ‘what are you doing here?’
“Why are some of your cubs in Savanaclaw just walking around butt naked.” Without missing a beat, Yu gave him an answer in the form of the odd statement that had Leona squinting at him in confusion. Looking around, he finally caught sight of three students running off in the distance. They weren’t naked per se, though the towel around their waist did little to cover them when they were dashing like a bat out of hell back towards the dorms.
Ugh. He made a face, rolling his eyes and looking away with a shake of his head. He was surrounded by idiots. “Those guys are always forgetting their clothes in their dorm rooms. Maybe they’ll get tired of running ‘round here embarrassing themselves and learn to bring what they need for practice,” he clicked his tongue in disapproval. If Yu hoped for Leona to do something about it, he would be sorely disappointed. After all, Leona was merely the housewarden, not some nanny tasked with doting after cubs that weren’t taught common sense.
His gaze fell back on the other, giving him a funny look. “...Think a better question is why are you staring at ‘em, perv~,” he mused aloud with a bemused smirk before walking past him and beginning to walk towards the shower room himself.
While we’re on our trip down memory lane, started last week when we delved back through the list of our favorite minor characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation, let’s keep following the Enterprise-D wherever she will go. This week, A Star to Steer Her By is focused squarely on the mustache-twirling, maniacal laughing, Picard-torturing villains of TNG! Longtime readers will remember we did the same thing when we highlighted our favorite baddies from The Original Series, so we’re getting on with our bad selves again, ‘90s style!
Adversaries from TNG run the gamut from silly to sinister, brainy to brawny, Ferengi to Romulan, and they’re all worth celebrating… when we’re not getting our asses handed to us at least. Who’s the baddest of the bad? Read on below for our picks and listen to our chatter on this week’s episode of the podcast (discussion at 1:10:04). And watch out for our truest nemesis: blue barrels!
All of my picks show that if you put time and effort into a character, it’s worth it! We see a great deal of Q, our runaway top omnipotent entity, and every time it’s more of a delight to watch him toy with Jean-Luc. Then Sisko. Then Janeway. Then Jean-Luc again. Similarly, there’s so much that’s intriguing and sexy about the Borg Queen that we bring her back to liven up the Delta Quadrant in Voyager. And the sheer intensity and manipulation of Gul Madred probably did more to pave the way for Deep Space Nine than anything else!
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Jake – Badmiral to the bone
Gul Madred
Benjamin Maxwell
Eric Pressman
Jake has a great collection of just fantastic performers to round out his collection of villains. Watching these pros, you might just get lured onto their sides because of how they make their wicked actions seem justified. First off, more of that love/hate for Gul Madred, perfectly carried by the late David Warner. And then a pair of admirals gone wrong from Jake’s famous Evil Admirals blogpost. Both Maxwell and Pressman fight for what they think is right, they just go about it in that patented Badmiral way that you just love to watch.
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Chris – Schemers extraordinaries
Duras Sisters
Sela
Gul Madred
If a villain is going to concoct an absolutely hare-brained scheme, you can bet they’re going to end up on Chris’s list. We see some of the weirdest plotting in “Redemption” when the Duras Sisters whip out their feminine wiles to get their nephew installed as Chancellor. Further, you don’t get schemes quite as batty as Romulan schemes, and Sela absolutely dominates the field of Rube Goldberg mechanics that need to go just right. And we have another listing of Gul Madred for the audacity of thinking kidnapping Picard was at all going to work!
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Caitlin – Kinky bastards
OG Ferengi
Duras Sisters
Gul Madred
Whips! Cleavage! Bondage! I’m sensing a theme! All of Caitlin’s picks had big nefarious plans that somehow capitalized on people’s baser instincts. The Ferengi of “The Last Outpost” started off so arrogant that they were the superior beings that it took the guardian of the Tkon empire to shut them up and make them put their electric whips away. As mentioned earlier, the duplicitous Duras sisters leaned on their sexuality to attempt their seduce their way into power, and of course now-familiar face Madred just used torture to get his way!
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Like K’Ehleyr winning our favorite TNG character last week, it is obvious who our go-to torturer is. Congrats to Gul Madred and his five lights for sweeping all of our lists!
We’ve got one more listicle in the TNG field ready for next week, so get ready to put your support behind your favorite alien race! Make sure you’re also doing the whole podcast thing over on SoundCloud or wherever you listen, following A Star to Steer Her By on Facebook and Twitter, and counting the lights carefully – your life may depend on it.